Causes and Consequences of American Minimum Wage Legislation, 1911–1947

1995 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Seltzer
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
The State ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Early American ◽  
Federal Minimum Wage ◽  
Fair Labor Standards Act ◽  
Minimum Wage Legislation

Although in the last two decades there have been literally hundreds of studies of postwar minimum wage legislation, there have been but a handful of studies of the first federal minimum wage, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), and no studies of the state laws that preceded it.1 My dissertation attempts to bridge this gap by examining the political economy and effects of early American minimum wage legislation.

Compensating Tipped Work: Security Cameras as a Tool for Time Use Measurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-54
Author(s):  
Emily D. Campion ◽  
Michael C. Campion ◽  
Michael A. Campion
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Time Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
Federal Minimum Wage ◽  
Fair Labor Standards Act ◽  
Work Security ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
Fair Labor

While tipped labor is common in the United States, it presents potential issues for employers unable to demonstrate how tipped workers use their time, thus violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and attracting lawsuits. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, if tipped employees spend more than 20% of their workweek completing non-tipped tasks (e.g., cleaning, stocking), then they are eligible for the Federal minimum wage ($7.25 in 2018) for the hours beyond 20%, rather than the minimum wage for tipped employees ($2.13 in 2018). Traditionally, employers have used self-report data or observers to determine time use, but these are problematic given self-report bias and the Hawthorne effect. In response, we conducted a study using security cameras to document employee time use in a sample of employees at a large chain restaurant. We found that the sample did not violate the 20% rule. Furthermore, we demonstrated an alternative method to study time use with technology most service-based companies already have.

scholarly journals The Minimum Wage and the Labor Market

2007 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Rocheteau ◽  
Murat Tasci
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
Federal Minimum Wage ◽  
Fair Labor Standards Act ◽  
Real Value ◽  
Hourly Workers ◽  
Fair Labor ◽  
Three Phases

The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Initially set at 25 cents an hour, the wage has been raised periodically to reflect changes in inflation and productivity. From September 1997 to the beginning of 2007, the minimum wage stood at $5.15 an hour, but its real value declined steadily from about 40 percent of the average private nonsupervisory wage to a mere 30 percent. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage was lower at the beginning of 2007 than at any time since 1955 (see figure 1). Meanwhile, the wage affected fewer people, as the fraction of hourly workers who earned no more than the minimum dropped from around 15 percent in 1980 to just 2.2 percent in 2006. On May 24, 2007, Congress passed a bill raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 in three phases over two years.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION

1982 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES C. COX ◽  
RONALD L. OAXACA
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
The Political ◽  
Minimum Wage Legislation

The Political Economy of Post-Independence India—A Review Article

1989 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhil Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Newly Industrialized Countries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Balance Of Forces ◽  
The Third World

Economists and political scientists have become increasingly interested in the political economy of India during the past decade and particularly during the past three or four years. The titles under review will be valuable not only to India specialists but also to comparative scholars because of the intriguing mix of conditions found in India. More like a continent than a country in its diversity, India is in some ways very similar to densely populated, predominantly rural and agricultural China, differing most perhaps in the obstinacy and depth of its poverty. In the predominant role played by the state within an essentially capitalist economy, it is closer to the model of Western social democracies than it is to either prominently ideological capitalist or socialist nation-states; like other countries in the “third world,” the state in India plays a highly interventionist developmental role. Finally, since Independence it has pursued, more successfully than most nation-states in Latin America and Asia, policies of importsubstituting industrialization and relative autarchy. In terms of its political structures, India differs from most newly industrialized countries (NICs) in that it generally continues to function as a parliamentary democracy. The federal political system creates an intriguing balance of forces between central and the regional state governments, which are often ruled by opposition parties with agendas, ideologies, and organizational structures quite different from those of the central government.

The Saint with Indra's Sword: Khruubaa Srivichai and Buddhist Millenarianism in Northern Thailand

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The State ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
A Charge ◽  
Social Causes

AbstractDespite a growing literature revealing the presence of millenarian movements in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist societies, scholars have been remarkably reluctant to consider the role of messianic beliefs in Buddhist societies. Khruubaa Srivichai (1878–1938) is the most famous monk of northern Thailand and is widely revered as atonbun, or saint. Althoughtonbunhas been depoliticized in the modern context, the term also refers to a savior who is an incarnation of the coming Maitreya Buddha. In 1920 Srivichai was sent under arrest to the capital city of Bangkok to face eight charges. This essay focuses on the charge that he claimed to possess the god Indra's sword. Although this charge has been widely ignored, it was in fact a charge of treason. In this essay, I argue that the treason charge should be understood within the context of Buddhist millenarianism. I note the saint/savior tropes in Srivichai's mytho-biography, describe the prevalence of millenarianism in the region, and detail the political economy of the decade of the 1910s prior to Srivichai's detention. I present evidence to show that the decade was characterized by famine, dislocation, disease, and other disasters of both natural and social causes. Such hardships would have been consistent with apocalyptic omens in the Buddhist repertoire portending the advent of Maitreya. Understanding Srivichai in this millenarian context helps to explain both the hopes of the populace and the fears of the state during that tumultuous decade.

scholarly journals RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE OF THE US WORKFORCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-43
Author(s):  
Kshama Mumbai
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Purchasing Power ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Federal Minimum Wage ◽  
Fair Labor Standards Act ◽  
To Come ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Wage Floor

“The Lawrence Textile Strike, also known as the Bread and Roses Strike”, prompted the first minimum wage law in the United States in 1912. Various states followed suit over the next two decades, and in 1938, at the height of the Great Depression, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which created a federal minimum wage (FLSA).The basic incentive behind the introduction of the Act was to reduce income inequality.A rise in minimum wage acts as a form of relocation of wealth from higher-income people to lower-income people. In principle, Congress amends the FLSA on a regular basis to raise the federal minimum wage to levels necessary for even the lowest-paying workforces in the economy.It also aims to help low-wage workers benefit from overall economywide advances in living standards. However, this has historically not always been the case. In 1968, The Poor People’s 1 Campaign started because of not raising the minimum wage to sufficient levels . The explicit purpose of the federal minimum wage is to help increase consumer purchasing power which stimulates the economy and to keep America's workforces out of poverty.However,the law failed to include the automatic cost of living adjustments and led to inflation eroding the real value of the minimum wage over time. There is a dire need for legislative action to raise the nation’s wage floor, more so than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.Unless consumer's purchasing power is increased,it will be difficult to come out of this recession.Further,the minimum wage is a direct concern for poverty levels and gender / racial inequality.This paper aims to analyze previous work on the issue and provide further recommendations for the same.

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